Monthly Archives: April 2018

DNA Day is celebrated globally on April 25th (the day that papers were published in Nature, on the structure of DNA). The goal of this special day is to offer students, teachers, and the public an opportunity to learn about the latest advances in genomic research, and how those advances might affect our lives. Learn more about DNA and the latest research, on our special landing page.

Why do some people study, and in fact enjoy studying, what most other people don’t even want to look at – the ever-spreading, never-promising patches of mould found in our homes or in our food? What it is that makes a fungal colony so fascinating unfolds itself once you recognize it as an organism – an entity that excels at adapting to an ever-changing environment.

Dogs have long been considered our best friends, and people often joke that dogs and their owners grow to look alike over time. In actual fact, the similarities run deeper than we thought, as Luis Pedro Coelho and colleagues demonstrate in their article in Microbiome. Over time, we and our best friends have developed similar gut microbiomes.

To celebrate Earth Day we invited Frederic Gallo, lead author of a recent study published in Environmental Sciences Europe to talk about his research on one of the most pertinent environmental issues today: marine plastic pollution. Frederic discusses the disastrous consequences of microplastics on marine life, sets out measures to prevent these, and highlights the work his colleagues are performing around the world in the fight against plastic pollution.

Peter Newman concludes this interview in Part 3 by discussing his plans for Sustainable Earthin its first year and what the journal means to him. Special thanks to Linda Blagg at Curtin University for the filming and recording of the interview.

Human Gut-on-a-Chip technology is being used to understand how exposure to radiation (through radiation therapy for cancer, exposure to cosmic rays in astronauts, or accidental exposure in a nuclear accident) impacts cells in the human gut and to test potential protective treatments to prevent damage caused by radiation exposure.

The theme of the Spring meeting of the American Chemical Society was the nexus of food, energy and water in the face of a growing world population. A notion debated during the meeting was transitioning to renewable energy sources. Here, I discuss the potentials and the obstacles of such a feat.

New research published in Hereditas has dated the most recent common ancestor of the three major East Asian ethnic groups to the time of the Shang dynasty using a genome-wide study. Here to tell us about their findings and the specific genetic connections and distinctions between these populations is Dr. Shuhua Xu, one of the authors of the study.

New advances in epigenetic drugs are allowing new options for the treatment of cancer and other diseases–but could these new treatments possibly have long-term effects that impact the fertility of both female patients and their future offspring? A recently published study in Clinical Epigenetics suggests that this is something that should be more closely examined in clinical drug trials given the results in their recent study examining the drug Tazemetostat and its impact on oocytes and germline genomes in female mice.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a term used to define a complex array of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social communication deficits and restricted and repetitive behaviors. In this blog, and the accompanying facebook live, Dr. Alex Kolevzon shares the research on autism diagnosis and explains current treatments for the disease.